By R.L. Bynum
In the middle of a field of professional runners, UNC’s Ethan Strand emerged in the final stretch to advance to the men’s 1,500-meters finals at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore.
He needed to finish in the top five in his Saturday heat and was in sixth place near the end of the race, but surged to finish third in a time of 3 minutes, 38.08 seconds to become one of five college runners to make Monday’s final.
You can watch the final at 8:47 p.m. ET Monday on NBC.
Even before crossing the finish line with his UNC singlet, Strand, whose college personal best is 3:36.57, smiled with Villanova’s Liam Murphy and pointed at him, knowing both had advanced. They quickly fist-bumped after the race at the storied Hayward Field.
“Me and Liam have been in a lot of races together,” Strand said. “We’ve been competing a long time. To be out here in this field with collegiates and compete with the pros and get through to the finals, that means a lot to probably both of us. So it was just really, really cool.”
Other college runners to make the finals were Oregon’s Elliott Cook, as well as Nathan Green and Joe Waskom from Washington.
“In the side view, I saw that he was right there, and we were good by a little bit. So, that was pure emotion. Excited to see what I can do in the final,” Murphy said.
From Vestavia, Ala., Strand, who just finished his junior season at UNC, won the ACC 1,500-meter title the last two seasons and went from finishing 12th at the NCAA meet in 2023 to ninth at that meet earlier this month.
Carolina’s Makayla Paige, who also just concluded her junior season, finished fifth in the opening round of the women’s 800 meters on Friday in a time of 2:02.12, advancing to Sunday’s semifinal round at 9:11 p.m. ET. Paige is in the third of three heats. The top five in each heat and the next three fastest advance to the final is at 10:32 ET Monday night.
Paige, who broke the school 800-meter record at the Wake Forest Invitational at 2:00.97, was second in the event at the ACC meet. She advanced to the NCAA East Regional meet championship round, but tripped after getting tangled up with another runner and finished 14th at 2:02.24.
Photo via screengrab from @ChrisChavez video
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